The competition is on among music streaming platforms. YouTube, already rivalling the likes of Spotify and Apple, reached 50 million subscribers in August, the Financial Times reports. In October 2020, the number of subscribers was 30 million, having increased by more than 20 million in some months.
The YouTube Music service, a platform owned by Google, costs $10 (€8.44) per month and the premium version is two dollars more expensive (€10.13). The number of subscribers, as well as the monthly fees, makes YouTube, and Google, a competitor in a market dominated by companies such as Spotify, Apple and Amazon.
At some point, “this service is becoming to Generation Z what Spotify was to millennials five years ago,” says Mark Mulligan of industry consultancy, Midia Research. “Google’s YouTube Music has represented the highlight of the music streaming market, resonating in many emerging markets and with younger audiences around the world,” he added.
Compared to other services, Spotify reached 165 million subscribers in the second quarter of this year. Apple had 78 million, followed by Amazon with 63 million by the end of Q1 2021. YouTube Music is the most recent service of the four: it was born in 2018; 10 years after Spotify; Apple Music appeared in 2015 and, a year later, Amazon Music Unlimited entered the market.
